Over forty years, there have been major efforts to aim at understanding the properties of surfaces, structure, composition, dynamics on the molecular level and at developing the surface science of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. Since most catalysts (heterogeneous, enzyme and homogeneous) are nanoparticles, colloid synthesis methods were developed to produce monodispersed metal nanoparticles in the 1-10 nm range and controlled shapes to use them as new model catalyst systems in two-dimensional thin film form or deposited in mezoporous three-dimensional oxides. Studies of reaction selectivity in multipath reactions (hydrogenation of benzene, cyclohexene and crotonaldehyde) showed that reaction selectivity depends on both nanoparticle size and shape. The oxide-metal nanoparticle interface was found to be an important catalytic site because of the hot electron flow induced by exothermic reactions like carbon monoxide oxidation.

The Gordon Research Conference on 'Plant Lipids: Structure, Metabolism and Function' has been instituted to accelerate research productivity in the field of plant lipids. This conference will facilitate wide dissemination of research breakthroughs, support recruitment of young scientists to the field of plant lipid metabolism and encourage broad participation of the plant lipid community in guiding future directions for research in plant lipids. This conference will build upon the strengths of the successful, previous biannual meetings of the National Plant Lipid Cooperative (www.plantlipids.org) that began in 1993, but will reflect a broader scope of topics to include the biochemistry, cell biology, metabolic regulation, and signaling functions of plant acyl lipids. Most importantly, this conference also will serve as a physical focal point for the interaction of the plant lipid research community. Applications to attend this conference will be open to all researchers interested in plant lipids and will provide a venue for the presentation of the latest research results, networking opportunities for young scientists, and a forum for the development and exchange of useful lipid resources and new ideas. By bringing together senior- and junior-level scientists involved in plant lipid metabolism, a broad range of insights will be shared and …

Completed sodium battery thermal model update from experimental performance; developed approach to evaluate thermal management strategies

This document summarizes the results of the Phase 1 acceptance test of the 241-SY-101 Flexible Receiver System (FRS). This acceptance test consisted of a pressure-decay/leak test of the containment bag to verify that the seams along the length of the bag had been adequately sealed. The sealing integrity of the FRS must be verified to ensure that the release of waste and aerosols will be minimized during the removal of the test mixer pump from Tank 241-SY-101. The FRS is one of six major components of the Equipment Removal System, which has been designed to retrieve, transport, and store the mixer pump. This acceptance test was performed at Lancs Industries in Kirkland, Washington on January 17, 1995. The bag temperature-compensated pressure loss of 575 Pa was below the acceptance criteria of 625 Pa and the test results were therefore found to be acceptable. The bag manufacturer estimates that 80--90% of the pressure loss is attributed to leakage around the bag inflation valve where the pressure gage was connected. A leak detector was applied over the entire bag during the pre-tests and no leakage was found. Furthermore, the leak rate corresponding to this pressure loss is very small when compared to …

This document summarizes the results of the Phase 2 acceptance test of the 241-SY-101 Flexible Receiver System (FRS). The FRS is one of six major components of the Equipment Removal System, which has been designed to retrieve, transport, and store the test mixer pump currently installed in Tank 241-SY-101. The purpose of this acceptance test is to verify the strength of the containment bag and bag bottom cinching mechanism. It is postulated that 68 gallons of waste could be trapped inside the pump internals. The bag must be capable of supporting this waste if it shakes loose and drains to the bottom of the bag after the bag bottom has been cinched closed. This acceptance test was performed at the Maintenance and Storage Facility (MASF) Facility in the 400 area on January 23, 1995. The bag assembly supported the weight of 920 kg (2,020 lbs) of water with no leakage or damage to the bag. This value meets the acceptance criteria of 910 kg of water and therefore the results were found to be acceptable. The maximum volume of liquid expected to be held up in the pump internals is 258 L (68 gallons), which corresponds to 410 kg. This …

This document summarizes the results of the phase 3 acceptance test of the 241-SY-101 Flexible Receiver System (FRS). The purpose of this acceptance test is to verify the sealing integrity of the FRS to ensure that the release of waste and aerosols will be minimized during the removal of the test mixer pump from Tank 241-SY-101. The FRS is one of six major components of the Equipment Removal System, which has been designed to retrieve, transport, and store the mixer pump. This acceptance test was performed at the 306E Facility in the 300 area from January 10, 1995 to January 17, 1995. The Phase 3 test consisted of two parts. Part one was a water leak test of the seal between the blast shield and mock load distribution frame (LDF) to ensure that significant contamination of the pump pit and waste interaction with the aluminum impact-limiting material under the LDF are prevented during the pump removal operation. The second part of this acceptance test was an air leak test of the assembled flexible receiver system. The purpose of this test was to verify that the release of hazardous aerosols will be minimized if the tank dome pressure becomes slightly positive …

The primary objective of the Advanced Emissions Control Development Program (AECDP) is to develop practical, cost-effective strategies for reducing the emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs, or air toxics) from coal-fired boilers. The project goal is to effectively control air toxic emissions through the use of conventional flue gas cleanup equipment such as electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), fabric filters (baghouses), and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) systems. Development work initially concentrated on the capture of trace metals, fine particulate, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride. Recent work has focused almost exclusively on the control of mercury emissions.

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory, a multi-disciplinary team led by the Advanced Power and Energy Program of the University of California at Irvine is defining the system engineering issues associated with the integration of key components and subsystems into advanced power plant systems with goals of achieving high efficiency and minimized environmental impact while using fossil fuels. These power plant concepts include ''Zero Emission'' power plants and the ''FutureGen'' H{sub 2} co-production facilities. The study is broken down into three phases. Phase 1 of this study consisted of utilizing advanced technologies that are expected to be available in the ''Vision 21'' time frame such as mega scale fuel cell based hybrids. Phase 2 includes current state-of-the-art technologies and those expected to be deployed in the nearer term such as advanced gas turbines and high temperature membranes for separating gas species and advanced gasifier concepts. Phase 3 includes identification of gas turbine based cycles and engine configurations suitable to coal-based gasification applications and the conceptualization of the balance of plant technology, heat integration, and the bottoming cycle for analysis in a future study. Also included in Phase 3 is the task of acquiring/providing turbo-machinery …

This alternatives generation and analysis (AGA) addresses the question: What is the design basis for the facilities required to stage low-level waste (LLW) feed to the Phase I private contractors? Alternative designs for the intermediate waste feed staging system were developed, analyzed, and compared. Based on these analyses, this document recommends installing mixer pumps in the central pump pit of double-shell tanks 241-AP-102 and 241-AP-104. Also recommended is installing decant/transfer pumps at these tanks. These recommendations have clear advantages in that they provide a low shedule impact/risk and the highest operability of all the alternatives investigated. This revision incorporates comments from the decision board.

N Reactor spent fuel is being stored in sealed canisters in the KW Basin. Some of the canisters contain damaged fuel elements. There is the potential for release of Cs 137, Kr 85, H3, and other fission products and transuranics (TRUs) when canisters are opened. Canister opening is required to select and transfer fuel elements to the 300 Area for examination as part of the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Characterization program. This report estimates the amount of radionuclides that can be released from Mark II spent nuclear fuel (SNF) canisters in KW Basin when canisters are opened for SNF fuel sampling as part of the SNF Characterization Program. The report also assesses the dose consequences of the releases and steps that can be taken to reduce the impacts of these releases.

This document describes the measurements of the branching fractions and isospin violations of the radiative electroweak penguin decays B {yields} ({rho}/{omega}){gamma} at the asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} PEP-II collider with the BABAR detector. Together with the previously measured branching fractions of the decays B {yields} K*{gamma} the ratio of CKM-matrix elements |V{sub td}/V{sub ts}| are extracted and the length of the far side of the unitarity triangle is determined.

The project objectives are improving access to information for the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin by inventorying data files and records of the major information repositories in the region, making these inventories easily accessible in electronic format, increasing the amount of information available on domestic sedimentary basins through a comprehensive analysis of the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin, and enhancing the understanding of the petroleum systems operating in the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin.

Discusses NREL's biodiesel research priorities and some current research results, including those concerning biodiesel quality and stability.

This project represented a joint effort between Florida State University (FSU), Rutgers University (RU), and the University of Illinois (U of I). FSU served as the lead institution and Dr. J.E. Kostka was responsible for project coordination, integration, and deliverables. This project was designed to elucidate the microbial ecology and geochemistry of metal reduction in subsurface environments at the U.S. DOE-NABIR Field Research Center at Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ORFRC). Our objectives were to: 1) characterize the dominant iron minerals and related geochemical parameters likely to limit U(VI) speciation, 2) directly quantify reaction rates and pathways of microbial respiration (terminal-electron-accepting) processes which control subsurface sediment chemistry, and 3) identify and enumerate the organisms mediating U(VI) transformation. A total of 31 publications and 47 seminars or meeting presentations were completed under this project. One M.S. thesis (by Nadia North) and a Ph.D. dissertation (by Lainie Petrie-Edwards) were completed at FSU during fall of 2003 and spring of 2005, respectively. Ph.D. students, Denise Akob and Thomas Gihring have continued the student involvement in this research since fall of 2004. All of the above FSU graduate students were heavily involved in the research, as evidenced by their regular attendance at PI meetings and ORFRC …

Design studios and building science courses have been conducted independent of each other, mainly due to a lack of tools that allow quick and easy consideration of building science criteria, such as comfort and energy requirements, during the design process. Existing tools are not user-friendly and their use requires significant effort in gaining familiarity with the input requirements, understanding the modeling assumptions and interpreting the output. This paper is about the Building Design Advisor (BDA), an evolving computer-based tool intended to bridge the gap between design studios and building science considerations by addressing the above-mentioned limitations of existing tools. BDA allows automatic preparation of input files to multiple simulation tools while the user is working in a CAD environment. BDA automatically activates the relevant simulation tools when the user selects performance parameters to be computed and provides the results in a graphical form, allowing comparison of multiple design options with respect to multiple performance criteria. The paper includes considerations for the use of the BDA in the design studio and ends with a description of the current development efforts and future plans.

Each year, Indian summer monsoon season begins in June and ends in September. Surface winds blow from the southwest during this season. The Indian summer monsoon typically covers large areas of India with western and central India receiving more than 90% of their total annual precipitation during this period, and southern and northwestern India receiving 50%-75% of their total annual rainfall. Overall, monthly totals average 200-300 mm over the country as a whole, with the largest values observed during the heart of the monsoon season in July and August. In all total, India receives about 870 mm of rainfall in a normal summer monsoon season. This summary discusses the effects of climate change on the frequency, mean rainfall, duration and the variability of the Indian Monsoon. East Asian Monsoon in the southeastern part of Asia is not discussed in this summary. Changes in monsoon characteristics are mainly inferred from climate model simulations submitted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). It should be cautioned that there is a large range in the results from these models. For instance, the range of mean monsoon precipitation as simulated by the AR4 models over India is from 500 …

For the purpose of conducting parallel, long-term tracking studies of storage rings such as the ones described in [3], [4], maximum execution speed is essential. We describe an approach involving metaprogramming techniques in C++ which results in execution speeds rivaling hand-optimized assembler code for a particular tracking lattice while retaining the generality and flexibility of an all-purpose tracking code.

Fuel element swelling problems have been experienced in the high-exposure fuel irradiation program in C Reactor, In an effort to determine the mechanism responsible for this swelling, three elements from C Reactor, one of which was a ruptures, were sent to the Radiometallurgy Laboratory for visual and metallographic examination. Because the swelled fuel was not numbered as to column position, the exact position of the examined elements is not known but they were believed to have come from the center of the charge and therefore exposures for these individual elements will be 25--50% higher than the column average exposures. This percentage figure was determined from data from nine tubes of C2N fuel which exhibited swelling. These nine tubes operated under nearly the same conditions as the examined elements. Maximum core temperatures for the examined elements are believed to be between 300--340C. The mechanisms for swelling were different in the high and low-exposure fuels. The high-exposure fuel exhibited grain-boundary tearing along a wide circumferential band over the entire transverse section of the fuel examined. The areas near the OD and ID were relatively free from tearing. The low-exposure fuel showed no grain boundary tearing but it did contain angular voids in …

Nuclear explosives may be used to capture small asteroids (e.g., 20--50 meters in diameter) into bound orbits around the earth. The captured objects could be used for construction material for manned and unmanned activity in Earth orbit. Asteroids with small approach velocities, which are the ones most likely to have close approaches to the Earth, require the least energy for capture. They are particularly easy to capture if they pass within one Earth radius of the surface of the Earth. They could be intercepted with intercontinental missiles if the latter were retrofit with a more flexible guiding and homing capability. This asteroid capture-defense system could be implemented in a few years at low cost by using decommissioned ICMs. The economic value of even one captured asteroid is many times the initial investment. The asteroid capture system would be an essential part of the learning curve for dealing with larger asteroids that can hit the earth.

Nuclear explosives may be used to capture small asteroids (e.g., 20--50 meters in diameter) into bound orbits around the earth. The captured objects could be used for construction material for manned and unmanned activity in Earth orbit. Asteroids with small approach velocities, which are the ones most likely to have close approaches to the Earth, require the least energy for capture. They are particularly easy to capture if they pass within one Earth radius of the surface of the Earth. They could be intercepted with intercontinental missiles if the latter were retrofit with a more flexible guiding and homing capability. This asteroid capture-defense system could be implemented in a few years at low cost by using decommissioned ICMs. The economic value of even one captured asteroid is many times the initial investment. The asteroid capture system would be an essential part of the learning curve for dealing with larger asteroids that can hit the earth.

Approximately 5 billion lbs of carpet will be removed from buildings in the US each year for the foreseeable future. This carpet is potentially a valuable resource because it contains plastic in the face of the carpet that can be re-used. However, there are many different types of carpet, and at least four major different plastics used to make the face. The face is woven through a backing fabric and held in place by a “glue” that is in most cases a latex cross-linked polymer which is heavily loaded with chalk (calcium carbonate). This backing has almost no value as a recycled material. In addition, carpet is a bulky material that is difficult to handle and ship and must be kept dry. It would be of significant benefit to the public if this stream of material could be kept out of landfills and some of its potential value unlocked by having high volume alternatives for recycled carpet use. The research question that this project investigated was whether carpet could be used as a fuel in a cement kiln. If this could be done successfully, there is significant capacity in the US cement industry to absorb carpet and use it as …

Run II at the Tevatron Collider started at the beginning of March 2001. With extensive upgrades on both detectors and electronics the CDF II began to collect data. This paper reviews early Run II physics results obtained by analyzing data collected before the middle of June 2002. At the present the understanding of the detector performances is rather high so many analysis are already underway.

The BABAR experiment at the PEP-II B-factory offers excellent opportunities in charm and charmonium spectroscopy. The recent observation of new states in the D{sub s} and in the charmonium mass regions revived the interest in this field. Recent BABAR results are presented.

Two different cobaltites, LaCoO{sub 3} and La{sub 0.5}Sr{sub 0.5}CoO{sub 3-{delta}}, have been prepared and characterized by means of high energy Co K-edge and low energy O K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The partial substitution of La(III) by Sr(II) species induces important changes in the reactivity and electronic state of the perovskite, while little or no changes can be detected in the formal oxidation state of cobalt atoms. The presence of strontium cations induces two main effects in the chemical and electronic behavior of the perovskite. The charge balance with Sr(II) species is reached by the formation of oxygen vacancies throughout the network, which increases the reactivity of the perovskite, now more reducible than the original LaCoO{sub 3} perovskite. O K-edge XAS experiments indicate that the Sr(II) species cause d electrons of cobalt cations to change from low to high spin configuration. Our data allow us to propose that this change in spin multiplicity is induced by the bigger size of Sr(II) cations, which aligns the Co-O-Co atoms, and favors the overlapping of {pi}-symmetry cobalt and oxygen orbitals, reducing the splitting energy of e{sub g} and t{sub 2g} levels.